(This story has been updated to reflect comments made by GM officials during an earnings conference call.)

General Motors earnings more than doubled during the third quarter to a record $2.77 billion, or $1.76 a share, despite slowing demand in the U.S. market.

But the maker says it benefited from a shift in focus away from low-profit fleet sales to the more lucrative retail market, as well as a rebound in the Chinese automotive market.

Earnings News!

The Detroit maker handily outperformed Wall Street’s expectations. Excluding a one-time gain, GM earned $1.72 a share for the quarter compared with a consensus forecast of $1.46. In a statement, the automaker credited “robust retail sales in the United States, strong performance in China, growth in wholesale volume and effective cost performance.”

GM has been rushing out an assortment of new models, including a remake of the Chevy Malibu.

General Motors saw its second-quarter profit more than double, reaching a record $2.87 billion, the maker announced on Thursday, handily beating Wall Street expectations.

The surge came despite the fact that GM has seen sales slip in recent months – even while the overall U.S. car market continues to grow. The results appear to validate the strategy of trimming back on lower-profit rental and other fleet sales in favor of growing the retail side of the sales ledger.

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“This was an outstanding quarter for GM,” said Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “Our results were generated by strong retail sales in the U.S., record sales in China and a continued emphasis on improving the performance of our operations worldwide. We’ll continue to focus on driving profitable growth and leveraging our technical expertise to lead in the future of personal mobility.”

Ford CEO Mark Fields showing off a new piece of technology at CES last week.

Investors take notice: while the stock market hasn’t been kind to the auto industry in recent weeks – or just about anyone else, for that matter – Detroit’s two largest carmakers are making some upbeat projections for 2016 that could make nervous shareholders happy.

Ford Motor Co. now expects to close the books on 2015 with a record pre-tax profit, with 2016 numbers to be “equal to or higher.” And GM is boosting its own earnings outlook for 2016. Both companies now plan to up their cash payouts to shareholders, while GM is expanding its ongoing stock buyback program.

Insight!

“This pattern of strong returns gives us a great platform to build on as we enter the year with a focus on strengthening our core business and engaging aggressively in emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility,” said Ford CEO Mark Fields, in a statement detailing Ford’s forecast.

Surging demand in its home market helped General Motors deliver a strong third-quarter profit, offsetting the impact of weakening sales in China.

The largest of the Detroit automakers said Wednesday morning that it earned $1.4 billion in net income, or $0.84 a share. That compared with $1.4 billion, or $0.81 a share a year ago. On an EBIT, or earnings before interest and tax, basis GM had an adjusted profit of $3.1 billion, and an adjusted profit margin of 8.0% percent.

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The strong numbers could generate new interest on Wall Street, at least GM officials are hoping. The maker’s stock has languished in recent months, around the same price set during its November 2010 IPO. But there could be a downside. The strong third quarter could motivate bargainers for the United Auto Workers Union who are trying to hammer out a new four-year contract with GM.

GM managed to keep itself in the black for the first quarter, after covering hefty recall-related expenses.

After writing down more than $1.3 billion to cover the cost of a burst of embarrassing recalls, General Motors saw its earnings for the first quarter of 2014 fall by more than 85%, it reported today, though it was still able to squeak out a modest profit.

The $125 million net earnings, at 6 cents per share, came in under the 9 cents consensus among top industry analysts. Some were even more bearish, Brian Johnson, of Barclays Plc, forecasting a one cent loss for the January to March quarter. But the crisis that began with the recall of 800,000 vehicles due to a faulty ignition switch in mid-February – and which ultimately saw GM call back nearly 7 million vehicles by the end of March – is likely to take its toll for some time to come.

By the Numbers!

“The performance of our core operations was very strong this quarter, reflecting the positive response of customers to the new vehicles we are bringing to market,” said GM CEO Mary Barra, in a statement aimed at putting a positive spin on the results. “Our focus remains on creating the world’s best vehicles with the highest levels of safety, quality and customer service, while aggressively addressing our business opportunities and challenges globally.”

GM CEO Mary Barra will see a sharp decline in earnings for her first full quarter as CEO.

The numbers aren’t likely to look very good when General Motors and Ford Motor Co. release their first-quarter earnings results this week, both makers expected to post sharp declines from year-ago levels.

Ford had signaled a likely slide late last year as a result of the numerous new product launches it will have in 2014. But GM’s anticipated downturn is likely to be significantly greater than first forecast as a result of its on-going recall problems – an issue expected to continue to haunt new CEO Mary Barra for some time to come.

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A consensus of industry analysts forecasts GM will deliver a meager 9 cents per share in earnings for the first three months of 2014, and Brian Johnson, an automotive analyst with Barclays Plc is even more bearish, predicting the U.S. giant will go a penny into the red. Prior to the announcement of GM’s initial ignition switch recall in mid-February, Johnson was looking at a profit of 20 cents, which would still have been down sharply from the 67 cents per share it earnings during the first quarter of 2013.

GM President Dan Ammann during the unveiling of the new Corvette Z06 on Monday.

With a new management team today taking office, its first dividend planned in nearly six year, and its stock already on the rise, General Motors has yet more news likely to make investors happy, the Detroit maker forecasting that its earnings are likely to rise “modestly” in 2014.

The maker credits a variety of factors that include an improving outlook for the overall global auto industry – but primarily due to a wave of its own new products that it hopes will yield increased sales and market share in key markets.

Automotive Insight!

“We continue to perform well in the two most important markets in the world, the U.S. and China,” said Mary Barra, who took over as GM’s new CEO today. “We’re taking advantage of our strength in these countries to restructure and make the investments necessary to grow profitably in other parts of the world.”

General Motors reported its net income was cut in half during the third quarter as one-time adjustments for restructuring the company’s debt reduced profits to $700 million from the $1.5 billion reported for the same period a year ago.

Despite the drop income, GM chairman and chief executive officer Dan Akerson said he was satisfied that GM was still making steady progress as its North America Operations, where margins surpassed 9%, continued to show strength. And the maker also saw an improvement in its loss-making European operations as a new turnaround plan appeared to be taking hold.

A Profitable News Source!

During the third quarter, GM said net income to common stockholders was $700 million, or 45 cents per fully diluted share, down from $1.5 billion, or 89 cents per share a year ago. Investors appeared to be taking the results in stride, however, with GM shares up in early trading. Excluding the one-time items, GM would have earned $1.7 billion, or 96 cents a share. That was ahead of the 94-cent forecast of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

GM Chairman Dan Akerson saw the positive side of the maker's 2012 earnings.

General Motors earnings took a sharp downturn in 2012, falling to $4.9 billion, or $2.92 a share, compared to $7.6 billion, or $4.58 a share, the year before. The maker blamed “unfavorable” special items, but the decline also reflected GM’s ongoing struggles to reverse 13 years of red ink from its floundering European operations.

The largest of the U.S. automakers said fourth-quarter net income came to $0.9 billion, an increase from the $500 million it reported during the October to December period in 2011, per-share results rising to 48-cents, a 9-cent year-over-year increase.

News You Can Use!

Nonetheless, the fourth-quarter numbers fell short of the 51-cent consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters, triggering a negative response from investors during early trading.

Despite that tepid reaction, GM officials were upbeat. “We recorded another solid year in 2012 as we grew the business, delivered a third straight year of profitability and took significant actions to put the company on a solid path for future growth,” said Dan Akerson, chairman and CEO.

“Our overall results underscore the work we have to do," said GM CEO Dan Akerson.

General Motors earnings dropped to $1.7 billion for the third quarter in the wake of more bad news from its European operations and disappointing results from South America.

GM’s third-quarter earnings, which worked out to $1.03 per share, compared with the $2 billion, or $1.20 per fully-diluted share, reported by the maker during the same period a year ago. But that was still better than many analysts were anticipating for the July – September 2011 period.

Analysts polled by the tracking firm FactSheet predicted GM earnings for the latest quarter would only reach 94 cents per share.

A Profitable Source!

And the latest results mark the maker’s seventh consecutive quarterly profit since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2009. GM’s net revenue, meanwhile, increased by 8% to $36.7 billion, compared with the third quarter of 2010. Unit sales for the quarter rose 9%, to 2.2 million, largely on increased demand in China.

“GM delivered a solid quarter thanks to our leadership positions in North America and China, where we have grown both sales and market share this year. But solid isn’t good enough, even in a tough global economy,” said Dan Akerson, chairman and CEO.